Originally Posted by
dradon947
rudestuff In your opinion should I do all my licenses from PPL,IRR,SECBIR,MEP,MEIR,SECPL in the UK or do them in USA and then do the conversion from FAA to CAA . Trying to save as much money as possible and flight training in USA is cheaper. The only thing is the conversion process seems a bit complex and may take some time?
If you are training in the UK, that is the order I would recommend in an ideal world (There are so many variables).
If
I were doing it again I would start with a class one medical obviously, then I would go (on an M1 visa) and get a PPL in the US then an FAA IR and build 50 hours PIC under IFR.
With an FAA PPL/IR you now have obvious options:
1. Come back to the UK, study for the ATPL exams and convert the IR via the 50 hour exemption, add on the MEP stuff and then finish with a CPL at 200 hours or depending on the industry,
2. Stay in the US, switch to a F1 visa and build up to 250 hours then take the FAA CPL and CFI. Get paid to build hours as an instructor whilst studying the ATPL exams and do the conversion later.
Basically instead of the UK PPL and CBIR I would do that part in the US, faster and cheaper.
It doesn't have to be black of white, there are loads of options. But it never really made sense to me to get an FAA CPL (250 hours) purely to convert it to a UK one (200 hours).